UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Amendment No. 2)
CURRENT REPORT
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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Registrant | Title of Each Class | Trading Symbol | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered | |||
| United Airlines Holdings, Inc. | ||||||
| United Airlines, Inc. | None | None | None |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging
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Explanatory Note
On July 8, 2020, United Airlines Holdings, Inc. and United Airlines, Inc. (together, the “Company”) filed a Form 8-K (the “Initial Form 8-K”) disclosing, among other items, plans to implement a workforce reduction. On September 2, 2020, the Company filed Amendment No. 1 to the Initial Form 8-K (“Amendment No. 1” and, together with the Initial Form 8-K, the “Original Form 8-K”) disclosing additional details regarding the planned workforce reduction.
At the respective times of the filing of the Initial Form 8-K and Amendment No. 1, the Company was unable in good faith to make a determination of an estimate or range of estimates required by paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of Item 2.05 of Form 8-K with respect to such workforce reduction actions. This Amendment No. 2 is being filed by the Company to provide such information. Except as set forth herein, the remainder of the Original Form 8-K is unchanged.
| Item 2.05 | Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities |
As announced in July 2020, the Company started the involuntary furlough process earlier this summer when issuing Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices to 36,000 of its employees. Since then, the Company worked to reduce the total number of furloughs to approximately 13,000 employees by working closely with its union partners, introducing new voluntary options selected by approximately 9,000 employees and proposing creative solutions that would save jobs. The Company expects to incur total pre-tax costs of approximately $1.1 billion related to the total workforce reduction of 22,000 employees, which costs consist primarily of settlement losses from the Company’s defined benefit pension plan, employee severance, pay continuance from voluntary retirements and benefits-related costs. The Company recorded $294 million of such costs in the second quarter of 2020 and expects to incur approximately $765 million of such costs in the third quarter of 2020. Of the total pre-tax costs, approximately $500 million are expected to be future cash expenditures.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements in this Current Report on Form 8-K/A are forward-looking and thus reflect the Company’s current expectations and beliefs with respect to certain current and future events and anticipated financial and operating performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be subject to many risks and uncertainties relating to the Company’s operations and business environment that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Words such as “expects,” “will,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “indicates,” “remains,” “believes,” “estimates,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “goals,” “targets” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Additionally, forward-looking statements include statements that do not relate solely to historical facts, such as statements which identify uncertainties or trends, discuss the possible future effects of current known trends or uncertainties, or which indicate that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be predicted, guaranteed or assured. All forward-looking statements in this report are based upon information available to the Company on the date of this report. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
The Company’s actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the following: the duration and spread of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of any other disease or similar public health threat and the impact on the business, results of operations and financial condition of the Company; the impact of workforce reductions on the Company’s business; the lenders’ ability to accelerate the MileagePlus indebtedness, foreclose upon the collateral securing the MileagePlus indebtedness or exercise other remedies if the Company is not able to comply with the covenants in the MileagePlus financing agreements; the final terms of borrowing pursuant to the Loan Program under Section 4003(b) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), and the effects of the grant and promissory note through the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act; the costs and availability of financing; the Company’s significant amount of financial leverage from fixed obligations and ability to seek additional liquidity and maintain adequate liquidity; the Company’s ability to comply with the terms of its various financing arrangements; the Company’s ability to utilize its net operating losses to offset future taxable income; the material disruption of the Company’s strategic operating plan as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Company’s ability to execute its strategic operating plans in the long term; general economic conditions (including interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, investment or credit market conditions, crude oil prices, costs of aircraft fuel and energy refining capacity in relevant markets); risks of doing business globally, including instability and political developments that may impact its operations in certain countries; demand for travel and the impact that global economic and political conditions have on customer travel patterns; the Company’s capacity decisions and the capacity decisions of its competitors; competitive pressures on pricing and on demand; changes in aircraft fuel prices; disruptions in the Company’s supply of aircraft fuel; the Company’s ability to cost-effectively hedge against increases in the price of aircraft fuel, if it decides to do so; the effects of any technology failures, cybersecurity or significant data breaches; disruptions to services provided by third-party service providers; potential reputational or other impact from adverse events involving the Company’s aircraft or operations, the aircraft or operations of its regional carriers or its code share partners or the aircraft or operations of another airline; the Company’s ability to attract and retain customers; the effects of any terrorist attacks, international hostilities or other security events, or the fear of such events; the mandatory grounding of aircraft in the Company’s fleet; disruptions to the Company’s regional network as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise; the impact of regulatory, investigative and legal proceedings and legal compliance risks; the success of the Company’s investments in other airlines, including in other parts of the world, which involve significant challenges and risks, particularly given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; industry consolidation or changes in airline alliances; the ability of other air carriers with whom the Company has alliances or partnerships to provide the services contemplated by the respective arrangements with such carriers; costs associated with any modification or termination of the Company’s aircraft orders; disruptions in the availability of aircraft, parts or support from its suppliers; the Company’s ability to maintain satisfactory labor relations and the results of any collective bargaining agreement process with its union groups; any disruptions to operations due to any potential actions by the Company’s labor groups; labor costs; the impact of any management changes; extended interruptions or disruptions in service at major airports where the Company operates; U.S. or foreign governmental legislation, regulation and other actions (including Open Skies agreements, environmental regulations and the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union); the seasonality of the airline industry; weather conditions; the costs and availability of aviation and other insurance; the Company’s ability to realize the full value of its intangible assets and long-lived assets; any impact to the Company’s reputation or brand image and other risks and uncertainties set forth under Part I, Item 1A., “Risk Factors,” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, as updated by the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2020, as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the reports the Company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| UNITED AIRLINES HOLDINGS, INC. | ||
| UNITED AIRLINES, INC. | ||
| By: | /s/ Chris Kenny | |
| Name: Chris Kenny | ||
| Title: Vice President and Controller | ||
Date: October 14, 2020